Zoom Button

[Jonathan5E0F]

Hi, I was wondering if you guys have the same problem with the zoom button at times.  Majority of the time (also the way I'm used to) is that when I slide the mouse up or down, it zooms in or out.  There times though that it's when I click, it zooms in and to zoom out I have to go to the "-" zoom icon.  Am I hitting a button accidentally?

 Thanks

[CMass]

Hey @Jonathan5E0F, 

Could you share your system information? You can find this by going to Help > System Info. What type of mouse are you using?

Thanks!

^CM

[Conrad_C]

When you say “slide” the mouse do you mean drag the mouse, as in moving the mouse with the mouse button held down? There are some different things that can be happening here.

For example, if the Scrubby Zoom option is enabled for the Zoom tool, then if you drag the mouse left or right it should zoom in or out, respectively. If Scrubby Zoom is off, I think you can get a similar zoom by scrolling the mouse wheel with the Alt button held down.

If that type of thing is happening, try narrowing it down. For example, if you have a different mouse try that, if it doesn’t happen with the second mouse then the first mouse might have a stuck mouse button. If it isn’t that, it might be something like a stuck Alt key.

[Trevor.Dennis]

@Conrad_C   Scrubby zoom is my goto method, but I use the centre mouse mutton to enable it.  That means pressing down on the scroll wheel of the MX Master 3 that I use now, along with the Ctrl key.  On my MacBook I slide my forefinger forwards and backwards on a Magic Mouse, and don't need a modifier key.  Both do this focused on the cursor position.

The OP is using Windows, so might be using  Ctrl Space Bar and left mouse button moving the mouse left and right.  I suspect this method has the most chance of confusing a user because you can also use Alt Space Bar left mouse button,  and once you have started, you can release all of the keys so long as you keep the left mouse button depressed, and continue to zoom.

We can also Ctrl Space Bar click to zoom in incrementally, or Alt Spacebar click to zoom out incrementally.  It's a bit of a mishmash, and absolutely to sort of action you use without thinking about, so when you 'do' have to think about it, you have to really think how it works.

Oh My Goodness!!  After typing that out, my scrubby zoom with centre mouse button has stopped working, and I don't know why! 😞   Now it's working again!!!   I blame Donald Trump for all of the confusion in our world.

[Johnn_P]

@Trevor.Dennis @CMass 

@Conrad_C   Scrubby zoom is my goto method, ...

@Trevor.Dennis

Scrubby Zoom is problematic. In the main window and the Camera Raw Filter, it requires different workflows to function. In all other filters, it doesn't work at all. Will Adobe ever fix this feature?

Window	Scrubby Zoom Shortcut
Main Window	Space + Command + Click&Drag
Camera Raw Filter	Option + Click&Drag
Liquify	---
Vanishing Point	---
Adaptive Wide Angle	---
Lens Correction	---
Filter Gallery	---

[Trevor.Dennis]

I notice you are quoting Mac modifiers.  Is this a Mac issue? 

I do have an M2 MBP and Magic Mouse I can test.

Are there specific circumstances that cause it to break?

[Trevor.Dennis]

OK, I have fired up the MacBook Pro (Sequoia 15.3.2) and Scrubby Zoom is working OK.

That's Cmd Space and left clicking with Magic Mouse and drag left to right.

In ACR I just left click and drag left to right. No need to use CMD.  If I try to use Cmd Space, Photoshop loses focus and the Spotlight search bar opens.

In Windows 11 I left click MX Master 3 and drag left to right

In Liquify the only way I can zoom is to drag my finger left to right on the Magic Mouse, without using any modifiers or mouse buttons.

In Windows 11 the only way I can zoom in Liquify is with the scroll wheel.  Score one to the Mac.

So I am finding it works a bit differently with Mac and Windows, but I have never thought about it up till now, and have not found it a problem.  Are you arguing that zoom should function the same way in every PS function?  That would be nice I suppose.

[Johnn_P]

In Liquify the only way I can zoom is to drag my finger left to right on the Magic Mouse, without using any modifiers or mouse buttons.

By @Trevor.Dennis

Hardly anyone uses a Magic Mouse when working in Photoshop. Most people use either a standard 3-button mouse or a drawing tablet — and so do I. So it doesn’t make sense to test it with such a rarely used device like the Magic Mouse.

In Liquify the only way I can zoom is to drag my finger left to right on the Magic Mouse, without using any modifiers or mouse buttons.

By @Trevor.Dennis

That’s not Scrubby Zoom — it’s a different feature called "Zoom with Scroll Wheel." Don’t confuse them. "Zoom with Scroll Wheel" only works with a mouse, not with a drawing pen.

Are you arguing that zoom should function the same way in every PS function? That would be nice I suppose.

By @Trevor.Dennis

Yes, I do. Shouldn't UI work consistently across all Photoshop modules?

In other graphic apps like Affinity Photo, Scrubby Zoom functions  the same way in every module. The workflow is unified throughout. Here's how it works there:

<Affinity Photo Module>	<Scrubby Zoom shortcut>
Photo Persona	Space + Command + Click&Drag
Liquify Persona	Space + Command + Click&Drag
Develop Persona	Space + Command + Click&Drag
Tone Mapping Persona	Space + Command + Click&Drag
Export Persona	Space + Command + Click&Drag

@CMass  Will the Photoshop UI ever function properly and consistently? Why can't Adobe implement a feature without creating issues?